Backyard Slice - Formative Presentation Feedback

 Backyard Slice - Formative Presentation Feedback

Today I had my first ever presentation in front of Kat and Pat to receive critique on how my projects are moving along. we were told that these presentations were meant to be kept to a maximum of 6 minutes to allow for detailed feedback within the allocated time slots. I submitted a power point to use as my presentation background and I also submitted my slice into a folder so that they could view the project after I had presented what I wanted to say.

Slide 1: Pumpkin Project

Pumpkin Project Slide

This admittedly was the weakest point of my presentation only because I was confident in what I had to do with this starter project. I knew that I wanted to redo the presentation at a later point when I had more experience in unreal after this slice project, and this was echoed by Kat and Pat. They also said I should have submitted my UE4 file of the pumpkin to them but because they had seen the project was in a good place before this and I had such a clear vision for the final steps, it was not a big deal. I was also congratulated on being able to create a creature on the tight asset and time requirements of the pumpkin project, which was really nice to hear.

Slide 2: Backyard Slice Current Overview

Current overview Slide

At this point I admitted what was still lacking in the scene/what I had outstanding left to do. There were several objects that I had not unwrapped yet and I still needed to optimise my max scene to keep it within the required budget. I also noted that at this point I had not created any decals, and as such would love some direction on where these could be applied in scene.

I was told that the black background was not helping my scene since it closed my scene in and made the lighting seem exceptionally harsh. Kat also expressed that she had seen this presentation style over and over again and hated the aesthetics of it, and since she will be the principal marker for this project I think it is best to keep to her aesthetic judgement here. Plan is to add back a mid tone purple in the background, at least something that does not contrast with the scene too much. This was also backed up by my next slide:

Slide 3: Lighting and Colour References

Lighting and Colour ref slide

This slide was an opportunity to discuss the overall aesthetic plan for the scene; I knew that I wanted to keep within a soft colours and monochrome scheme to present a feeling of ease when you look at the slice, since this shrine is meant to be a place of comfort and softness in a environment that contrasts it with the monochromatic tones.

I collected references ranging from a calming worn copper colour, to white flowers of my chosen foliage type, to the time of day I wanted to light my scene with. I also provided a reference of how the lighting impacted the colours of the scene in the bottom right, which was met with some criticism as it was believed that this pink colour was too harsh. Pat said that is washed most of the colours out, especially the bright contrasting statues that should be focal points that become almost grey in tone. The white of the walls also becomes tinted strongly and it is hard to read the actual material properties of the scene well, so I will tone this down when relighting my scene.

Slide 4: New tool + technique used

Foliage technique example

One of the requirements of the presentation was to show how this project pushed us to use new techniques or tools. Obviously substance designer would be a big one for me here, and I specifically chose to look at my foliage material since all my foliage prior has been from photoshopping basic materials. I hate the process of hand painting textures personally, so finding out how I can make a useful foliage asset was quintessential. I also loved how the procedural nature of designer meant that if I needed to adjust the original leaf shape for instance the final texture would be adjusted accordingly, instead of me having to repaint the texture myself. I also could easily generate normal maps and alphas through this method, streamlining the process further.

This texture was well received in the presentation, and so there is not much to comment on here. When looking at my foliage in my scene it was noted that from the top it was obvious where the cards started, so I will have to go and address this in max later.

Slide 5: Tiling Materials Breakdown

Tiling materials breakdown

My final slide was a breakdown of all the tiling materials I had created thus far. I had planned out these materials ahead of time a few weeks ago now, and had also used these materials in my trim sheet designs. 

the general consensus on these materials is that they were too dark; especially the metal roof material and the black bricks. in my scene they were completely swallowed up and no material information could be gleamed at first glance, so I was told to lighten them in value significantly to avoid this. I was also told that my road bricks needed greater contrast to stand out in the scene. Other than that, the consensus was that these materials were a success and complemented each other well.

Final Critique List:

After my presentation, Kat and Pat looked into my UE4 scene with a fine tooth comb. Apparently my project was in a great place despite the incomplete assets, and so they had to nit pick in order to give me a list of critique to act on; This was a real confidence boost to hear after the work I had put into the scene. I noted these down as they were said, and had a checklist of easily actionable notes to improve my scene:

1. Vertex paint the flooring - I was told the scene had a extremely noticeable tiling on the floor that was distracting and should be broken up, possibly with a different road tile vertex painted on
2. Tire marks out of the shutters - Another break up of the floor would be adding tire marks for the bike, and this would add a story element to the scene
3. Change the lighting tone to an subtle orangey-red - more obvious as an actual sky lighting colour at sun rise
4. Elongate shadows - changing the lighting direction would make the scene lights feel more purposeful, and show time of day better at dawn
5. Change sun to face the shrine - better highlights the focal point of the scene which is the shrine
6. Add contrast light to the pavement, rectangle light, cooler colour - I had a lot of detail in the normal and roughness of the road tiles that was lost with fill lighting - adding a more artificial light would reflect that the scene is in a city and show subtly the detail in my texture work
7. Decrease lantern lights - These distract from the focal point and add too much pink light back into the scene, also seem unnatural at current brightness
8. Lighten darkest bricks and floor - values too dark to see qualities
9. Lighten roof tiles albedo - value too dark to see any qualities
10. Trim between the bricks and the flooring - The intersection seems very sharp and could use edge dressing
11. Keep backdrop mid tone purple - established before, makes the scene appear bigger
12. Make floor normal intensity higher - further exaggerates surface qualities
13. Add dirt noise decal to floor - Another decal option, further breaks up tiling

That rounds up the notes I was given, and most of these are really easy fixes. I will likely be reimporting assets later to tidy up my unreal directory also as that was something mentioned at the end, but I am happy to have received such a comprehensive list now from the people who will be marking my work. It was especially helpful in the lighting and presentation department as I will be able to transfer much of the critique here into my pumpkin project.